Unchanged Afghanistan bowl; West Indies bring in Hope, McCoy

Report

Shepherd was home for the birth of his second child while Chase also made way for the hosts

Obed McCoy was brought in for his first game of the T20 World Cup  •  CWI Media/Athelstan Bellamy

Toss Afghanistan chose to bowl vs West Indies

In the final group game of the men’s T20 World Cup 2024, Rashid Khan won the toss and Afghanistan opted to chase against West Indies.

While Afghanistan were unchanged, West Indies made a couple of tweaks in the teams’ last match ahead of the Super Eight. Romario Shepherd had gone home for the birth of his second child, which gave Obed McCoy an opportunity in the XI. Shai Hope also replaced Roston Chase to add more batting mettle.

The teams were playing at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, a venue named after the West Indies head coach. The wind could play a huge factor with forecasts for it to blow at over 20kmph.

Rashid wanted his team to get a feel of chasing a total – they did so just once in this competition, against PNG – heading into the business end.

A fresh pitch was playing host to St Lucia’s third match of this T20 World Cup.

West Indies: 1 Brandon King, 2 Johnson Charles, 3 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 4 Shai Hope, 5 Rovman Powell (capt), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Sherfane Rutherford, 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Gudakesh Motie, 11 Obed McCoy

Afghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Ibrahim Zadran, 3 Gulbadin Naib, 4 Azmatullah Omarzai, 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Karim Janat, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 Naveen-ul-Haq, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Sudarshanan7